Montague, PEI -
A cry of help to save the Canadian pork industry has gone online in the hopes that sheer numbers may prompt the federal government to sit up and take notice.
"I ask you as minister to help our industry in its darkest hour," says the open letter to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
The online petition asks for help and outlines the eventual demise of the Canadian hog industry and thousands of jobs, especially in light of the public relations nightmare regarding H1N1 flu wrongly attributed as swine flu.
The petition has generated 1,500 names since being posted.
(Prince Edward) Island pork producers have been contacted about the petition and hope Canadians recognizing the need for a certified and high quality pork product grown nationally will rally support.
Producers have been losing $20 to $50 an animal for the past two years.
"I personally agree with what this petition says and hope many others will as well,'' said Morell area pork producer Scott Dingwell.
The PEI pork industry has been slashed to a shadow of its former stature after the Sherwood-based pork processing plant was shut down last year.
The petition notes the pork industry is in severe crisis because of the "ridiculous nature of converting food (corn and soybeans) into fuel which has resulted in input cost increases never before seen; the consolidation and evaporation of multiple market access; a public relations nightmare in the form of the H1N1 flu (inappropriately named the swine flu) that resulted in an immediate decrease in consumption, demand and prices; the sanctimonious removal from one of the largest swine market places in the world through a largely uncontested MCOOL legislation in the U.S.; cut-off from vital credit through traditional and agriculturally-based lending institutions and burdened by higher operating costs due to legislative and environmental mandates with no reciprocation through cost recovery and economic equality through pricing mechanisms.
"We ask that you recognize the extreme crisis being faced," says the letter. "Before the economic crisis, before the fall of the auto industry and the crash in energy prices…pork producers have been losing their equity, assets and a sustainable livelihood."
The pork industry, says the petition, needs a federally sponsored Emergency Funding Initiative in order to establish a fiscal bridge not available through any chartered banks or Farm Credit Canada.
"As most farming is integrated into multiple sectors such as grain, beef, poultry, dairy and vegetable production, the current equity losses are now jeopardizing the entire agricultural system."
On the Net: www.petitiononline.com/canpork
(The Guardian)
